Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites:
Parallel translations
- WEB “Don’t cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites;
- BSB “Do not allow the Kohathite tribal clans to be cut off from among the Levites.
- NKJV “Do not cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites;
- NASB “Do not let the tribe of the families of the Kohathites be eliminated from among the Levites.
- NLT “Do not let the Kohathite clans be destroyed from among the Levites!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God warns that the Kohathite clan must not be cut off from among the Levites. Their sacred service must be carried out in a way that preserves their lives.
Overview
Because the Kohathites handled the most holy things, careless contact could bring divine judgment and threaten the clan's survival. God's command shows His concern to protect them through right order rather than to destroy them. This balance of holiness and mercy points to the gospel, where God's justice and His desire to save His people meet in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Num 17:10And the LORD said unto Moses, Bring Aaron’s rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me, that they die not.
- 2 Sam 6:6–7And when they came to Nachon’s threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it.
- Num 18:5And ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar: that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel.
- 1 Sam 6:19And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.
- Exod 19:21And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish.
- Jer 38:23So they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans: and thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire.
- Num 16:32And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.
- Lev 10:1–2And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 4:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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